Keds Extends Brand to Clothing with Opening Ceremony

When Keds sneakers were launched back in 1916, the world was in the midst of World War I. The American footwear company has been through plenty of cultural and financial ups and downs since then and it has finally, 95 years into its existence, it is branching out and trying something new: apparel.

Keds began selling its first apparel collection exclusively at New York's indie fashion retailer, Opening Ceremony. The collection, which has about 85 sportswear designs for men and women, launched in OC stores and online on Black Friday, as Women’s Wear Daily notes.

“The Keds brand was founded about the same time that American sportswear was created, so the introduction of apparel is a natural fit for us in many ways,” said Kristin Kohler Burrows, Keds brand president, according to Fibre2Fashion. “We drew inspiration for this initial collection from American style icons who have worn Keds over the past 100 years," icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, and Natalie Portman.

Opening Ceremony previously collaborated with Keds on a Pro-Keds collection of shoes. WWD also notes that Keds opened a pop-up shop in the Vogue lounge at Miami’s Sagamore Hotel during Art Basel in Miami 2011 in order to build buzz. To help that along, Keds is also inviting 40 bloggers “to its showroom to style looks that they can later blog about,” WWD reports.

If you’re not near an Open Ceremony store, don’t fret. The collection will be sold elsewhere starting in the spring.